Some post-operative patients have an endotracheal tube inserted through the nasal passage and terminating in the trachea. A ventilator is connected to the endotracheal tube and is utilized to control the patient's breathing. The ventilator inflates and deflates the patient's lung. The endotracheal tube passes through the vocal chords and thus makes them inoperative. Such patients cannot communicate by voice. The inability to communicate causes anxiety for many patients as well as frustration for the medical team and the patient's relatives.
When an endotracheal tube is in one nostril and a nasogastric tube is in the other nostril, the patient cannot communicate by voice. Since both nostrils are employed, there is no opportunity to pass a voice tube down into the hypopharynx. In other cases, the larynx or vocal chords are distorted or removed so that the patient has a permanent impairment of vocal capability. In each case, it is desirable to provide the patient with a device which permits him to articulate intelligible speech.